The search is entering a critical phase as the plane's black box, potentially the source of the pulses, is expected to run out of battery today

The Malaysian government has set up three new ministerial committees to "streamline and strengthen" its handling of the disappearance of Flight MH370.

The bodies will handle the matters relating to the next of kin of those boarded the ill-fated flight, technical aspects of the investigation and asset deployment for the Search and Rescue operations (SAR).

"This committee will oversee all aspects regarding the next of Kin of those on board MH370, providing families with information on the search operation, and offering support after the search operation has been concluded."

"The second committee oversees technicalities, specifically, the formation and the appointment of the investigation team.

Hishammuddin said the third committee would take over issues related to the deployment of assets for the search operation, led by Deputy Defense Minister, Datuk Abdul Rahim Bakri.

"This committee will work with foreign counterparts involved in the search operation, and liaise closely with the Australian Joint Agency Co-ordination Centre," Hishammuddin said.

12:55 am

The airline AirAsia, which serves Malaysia and Southeast Asia, is pulling its April inflight magazine Travel 3Sixty after an unfortunately-timed message appeared inside reading: "Pilot training in AirAsia is continuous and very thorough.

"Rest assured that your captain is well prepared to ensure your plane will never get lost."

Executive chairman Datuk Kamarudin Meranun apologised in a statement, which read: "With deep regret and remorse I would like to sincerely apologize for any offense (sic) caused by the Pilot's Perspective article in the latest issue of Travel 3Sixty magazine.

"As a monthly contributor, Capt Lim Khoy Hing prepared all of his articles months in advance before the magazine goes to print.

"This is a truly difficult time for the nation and words cannot describe how I personally feel of this incident.

"It truly saddens me that this article was released at such an inopportune moment."

1:54 am

Rolls-Royce and Boeing should be more involved in handling the case of missing Malaysian Airlines flight MH370 instead of letting MAS alone face the media and grieving family members, said Advanced Air Traffic System (AAT) Sdn Bhd.

Its chairman Datuk Zolkipli Abdul said Rolls-Royce as the engine maker and Boeing, the aircraft manufacturer should both answer for the incident as the investigations have not ruled out their involvement yet.

"We have been seeing MAS handling the press conferences alone and answering on behalf of Boeing and Rolls-Royce all these while and it seems like they are trying to put the burden of proof on MAS alone," the New Straits Times quoted him as saying.

"Even when we were told that the two agencies have cooperated with the United States aviation security investigation team, as the manufacturer for Boeing 777-200ER, Boeing should have the technical capacities to significantly contribute to MH370's search and rescue operation (SAR).

"It is not acceptable for Rolls-Royce being the engine maker of an engine that costs more than RM500 million to not have the technology to track the engine from the plane.

"We can use the same analogy as buying a luxury car, every engine will be installed with a tracker that allows the maker to track the engine in case of theft or loss.

"MAS spend a great deal of money to secure the best services from both Boeing and Rolls-Royce but when this incident happened, both of them seemed to have clammed up."

2:53 am

Journalist Stephen Coates is reporting that Australia's Foreign Minister Julie Bishop says the Chinese authorities have still not officially confirmed the report from China's state news agency Xinhua about the pings from a device - possibly the black box of missing Flight MH370.

Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott has said that search teams looking for flight MH370 were "hopeful but by no means certain" that a pulse signal reportedly detected by a Chinese ship in the Indian Ocean was related to the missing jet.

Abbott told reporters while on a visit to Tokyo, Japan: "This is the most difficult search in human history.

"We are searching for an aircraft which is at the bottom of a very deep ocean and it is a very, very wide search area.

"We need to be very careful about coming to hard and fast conclusions too soon."

4:45 am

Up to 10 military planes, 2 civil planes and 13 ships will assist in today's search for missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370.

The hunt resumes after Chinese state news agency Xinhua reported that a patrol vessel hunting for the downed jetliner had picked up a "ping" on Saturday, raising hopes that it could be from the underwater beacon of the plane's "black box" voice and data recorders.

Australian search authorities said such a signal would be consistent with a black box, but both they and Xinhua stressed there was no conclusive evidence linking it to the Boeing 777 that went missing on March 8 with 239 people aboard shortly after taking off from Kuala Lumpur for Beijing.

5:16 am

Breaking: Australian authorities say a second "acoustic event" has been detected within 2km of the first "ping" detected yesterday.

Ships and planes have been deployed to investigate.

At this stage, the authorities cannot, however, confirm whether the signal is from missing Flight MH370's black box.

6:08 am

Let's quickly recap on the latest developments in the hunt for missing Flight MH370.

International search planes and ships are heading to an area where a Chinese ship twice heard what could be signals from the downed jetliner's black box locators.

Retired Air Chief Marshal Angus Houston, the head of the Australian agency coordinating the operation, said two reported acoustic detections from the Haixun 01 were a good lead but there remained no certainty that they had come from the missing plane.

Aircrews from seven countries have been flying dozens of missions from Perth deep into the southern Indian Ocean looking for debris from the jet and have been joined by ships fitted with sophisticated equipment designed to pick up the locators on the black box voice and data recorders.

The Boeing 777 lost communications and disappeared from civilian radar less than an hour into an overnight flight from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing on March 8.

7:02 am

Special equipment will be needed to determine whether the two sets of "pulse signals" detected by Chinese patrol ship Haixun 01 had led search crews to missing Flight MH370.

Australian search chief Retired Air Chief Marshal Angus Houston said: "We need HMS Echo and the Australian defence vessel Ocean Shield to come to the location because they have special equipment that can help us make the judgement whether there is anything down there."

Search crews are now focusing their attention on the southern section of the current search area.

8:10 am

Australian Air Chief Marshall Angus Houston said the British navy's HMS Echo, which is fitted with sophisticated sound locating equipment, is moving immediately to the area where the Haixun 01 detected the signals.

The Australian navy's Ocean Shield, which is carrying high-tech sound detectors from the U.S. Navy, will also travel to the area.

Here's Australian Air Chief Marshall Angus Houston talking about the 'promising' pings heard in the last 24 hours.

10:09 am

Sky News is reporting that there have now been THREE separate pings detected in the search area.

At least one of these was at the same frequency as a plane's black box detector.

10:43 am

To clarify, two of the signals were detected by the Chinese ship Haixan-01.

The first was on Friday and the second on Saturday about 2km away.

The third signal was reported by an Australian ship, the Ocean Shield, in a different location.

10:45 am

Investigators are also urging caution over the possible signals, indicating there is no confirmation they are related to MH370.

False alerts can be triggered by sea life, including whales, or by noise from ships.

Australian officials reported last week that an alert sounded on the British Royal Navy vessel, H.M.S. Echo, which is equipped with black box detection equipment, but the signal turned out to be false.

11:14 am

Experts have indicated it is likely the signal heard by the Chinese and Australian ships.

Anish Patel, president of Dukane Seacom – which says it manufactured the black box beacons used on MH370 – told CNN that the signal reportedly detected by the Haixun 01 was “identical” to the standard frequency emitted by its pingers.

David Gallo, an oceanographer who helped in the search for Air France flight 447 in the Atlantic Ocean in 2009, said the pulse detected was unlikely to occur naturally.

“It could very well be one of the beacons,” he told the Observer.

11:49 am

A mass prayer is being held for the victims and families of MH370 in Kuala Lumpur.

The Straits Times reports more than 2,000 people joining the vigil on Sunday.

Orange-robed Buddhist monks chanted mantras for almost two hours, before about two dozen tearful relatives left the event.

Ravi Madavaram, an aviation analyst with Frost & Sullivan based in Kuala Lumpur, said most beacons used in the maritime and aviation industry had the same frequency and the ping could "likely" be from flight MH370.

"But the Chinese have not said exactly where the 'ping' is originating and where they detected it," he said.

"The Chinese had previously given false alarms, so we need to verify from others before we can confirm that we have a ping."

12:55 pm

It's been an awful four weeks - but we would echo these sentiments.

Many people have made a huge effort to find MH370.

#MH370 efforts made by all the people involved in searching the blackbox need to be applauded !!